Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I’d been meaning to write a post for a couple of weeks now pointing everyone to a new podcast hosted by Andrew “Foucault” Brokos and Nate Meyvis, the Thinking Poker Podcast (so named after Brokos’s excellent blog).

As it happened, I was invited to appear as a guest on the most recent episode of the show, and so what was going to be selfless promotion of others’ efforts might now sound a little more like someone saying “Look at me!” But really, it’s a cool, smart show and should be of interest to anyone who enjoys playing and thinking about poker.

(Also, look at me!)

The Thinking Poker podcast debuted about a month ago. As the pair explained on the first episode, the purpose of the show is to provide “intelligent discussion of any aspect of poker -- the strategy, the news, the culture, the ethics” and more -- in other words, to explore the world of poker and the interesting people who inhabit it.

They’ve already had some interesting guests on the first few shows. Shane “Shaniac” Schleger appeared on the first one, discussing among other topics life as an itinerant online poker player going down to Mexico frequently in order to play. Tommy Angelo was the guest on the second episode, talking about his books and other fun stuff. And Jason Strasser was on for Episode 3, drawing some comparisons between online poker and options trading.

On Episode 4, the pair begin with some emails and a short strategy segment (as usual), then I come on to talk about tourney reporting, my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class, freelancing, the WSOP, and other aspects of poker in culture.

Andrew and Nate asked some great questions and we ended up having an interesting conversation that I think fits well into what they’re trying to do with the show -- namely, provide some thoughtful poker talk that’s perhaps a little off the beaten path.